'I want for North Melbourne what Geelong have got'

Emma Quayle

BRAD Scott felt the same way most people did, after watching Geelong lose a preliminary final to Collingwood back in 2010.

"I thought they were gone," said the North Melbourne coach, who left the MCG that night looking forward to pitting his improving side against the ageing Cats.

"It was the way they played; the way their list was getting older. And history says when that when you lose one, you start to struggle. I did; I thought they were gone."

Twelve months (and one week) later, Scott was at the MCG again. This time, he watched his twin, Chris, win a premiership in his first year coaching the reworked, revitalised Cats. He felt nothing but happy for his brother, and proud of what he had just achieved.

"I shouldn't speak for Chris, but we're incredibly close and I've always enjoyed his success more than I have my own. I was staggered with what they were able to achieve last year," Scott said.

"He went in there and was surrounded by a super, strong administration and some good coaches, who he raves about. So they already had a very, very strong football club and Chris downplays it because he's such a humble guy, but he was able to then go in there and get the senior players on board with what he believed. And he did it in the way you should do it, with absolute class, he didn't go in and say 'This is wrong, that's wrong, I'm here to save you', he went in and said, 'You do almost everything better than everyone else, we just need a slight tweak,' and that slight tweak was enough to turn around a side that a lot of people thought was going to slide.

"People have said to me — and maybe they're trying to make me feel better — that gee, wasn't he lucky, he got a great list. But the people saying that should go back and watch the 2010 preliminary final and see what that club, through Chris' leadership, was able to turn around. He wasn't lucky."

Scott watched the game from the stands, a Geelong fan for one day, but didn't feel at all jealous, or desperate to know how his brother was thinking or feeling. "It's not about me and it's not about Chris. It's different when you're a coach, as opposed to a playing in a premiership," he said.

"What I want is success for North Melbourne and I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm going to be the one that's going to get North Melbourne success. I hope I'm going to have a fair input into it, but when North Melbourne have their next period of great success it's going to be because the players did it. Even with what Chris was able to do in terms of guiding Geelong, the Geelong players still had to buy in, and they still had to do it.

"So I didn't see it as, I want what he's got. I want for North Melbourne what Geelong have got. That's the feeling you get. As a player, you win premierships but as a coach, your club wins premierships. I don't feel an ounce of jealousy and that's for two reasons, because I've always felt better for his success than my own, and I think even he would say that he's one part of the Geelong machine."